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Career Opportunities

Skills and career paths

The programme curriculum is designed to develop both practice-oriented and research skills throughout the four years of studies. This allows our graduates to choose a career path they strive for. While core courses in the field of political science and world politics provide students with general understanding of how politics and international relations work, there are several blocks of courses that help students master specific skills particularly valuable on the marketplace.

The first group develops critical and analytical thinking as well as some versatile skills related to the cost-benefit analysis, policy papers preparation, etc, that allow our alumni to work both in governmental bodies and agencies and in private sector.

The second block of courses provides students with skills much-valued in the age of rapid technological advancements. These courses help students master different methods of acquiring and processing information, including big data. Students also get acquainted with various software products, including R. This allows students to proceed with academic career and get enrolled to the best MA programmes in the EU Member States and Russia. These skills also help them if they want to choose a practice-oriented career path in the field of data analysis, be it working for some private company or in the third sector.

The third group of courses develops student’s writing skills, thus making it possible for them to become a political journalist or a political commentator.

When it comes to students’ career perspectives, the programme’s rationale is that today the labour market is too flexible and unpredictable to build the curriculum with a view to just one specific professional development. This is why we build the academic programme in a way that allows our students acquire a wider range of skills that let them choose a career they aspire for.

Our graduates and their career paths

Our graduates typically continue their studies upon graduation, and enroll in various prestigious MA programmes, both in political science and international relations, and in a number of adjacent academic areas. The knowledge and skills provided within the BA programme suffice for an informed and unrestricted choice of future career, but they also allow for shaping an ongoing educational trajectory even in new fields of study.

Among the universalities our graduates choose to proceed with their MA studies are the University of Tartu (Estonia), the Central European University in Budapest (Hungary), the Radbound University (the Netherlands), the University of Glasgow and the Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. In Russia these include the European University in St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg State University, the HSE in Moscow, the Moscow State University and others.

Upon the completion of the MA studies some of our graduates decide to pursue their academic career, thus, enrolling in the PhD programmes at the Central European University in Budapest (Hungary), the European University Institute in Florence (Italy), the European University in St. Petersburg, the HSE, and others.

Another noticeable group of graduates gets employed in private and public organizations. They work with public authorities, are hired by, and even organize their own private ventures and NGOs. Some of them engage with political journalism and political commentary. The programme is designed to provide its graduates with a wide choice of opportunities, and endows them with everything that is necessary to excel after graduation.

To learn more about the success stories of our graduates, please check the Alumni page.